The so called experts are all legal proffessionals who have a vested financial interest in avoiding patent reform. The status quo is indeed very good for lawyers.

The current patent laws favor the patent lawyers plus two groups of companies. The first group is composed of very large companies like Apple, Samsung, Qualcomm, and so on, with extremely deep pockets to litigate. The second group are the so-called "patent trolls" who do not design, manufacture, or sell any products based on their patents. As such, they can not be counter-sued. This kind of immunity encourages them to bring in frivilous litigation. They have nothing to lose by litigating.

Who is the loser in our current system then? The small start-up companies where the real innovation takes place. They don't have money to burn on litigation, and they get bullied by both of the other two groups above.

We need patent reform, because the current sytem is not the best for creativity and innovation.

You nailed the problem with the patent system as it is currently administered. There needs to be provisions to restrict the activities of non-practicing patent holders and the P&TO unfortunately has set the bar too low for patent awards. There are far too many patents being issued for obvious and trivial cases. The explosion of patent awards simply feeds the litigation process by which companies use to "beat down" their competitors in the courts instead of in the marketplace. This is bad for both businesses and the consumers.

I guess in times to come or may be now when a new design is worked out, a patent engineer or staff would get involved from the very starting. Looks like soon engineerig colleges should introduce this as subject or separate discipline as such.

It reminds me of a case of Canadian police investigating themselves re: Taser use and concluding that there is nothing wrong with killing an innocent man at the Vancouver airport...the artcile title should had read: "Patent Reform? Experts who get paid by the patent system do not think so!"

1) Evaluating if reform is needed by patent lawyers is a conflict of interest

2) Patents are presently applied more for blocking than for innovation and even less for protecting investment - The thought process for "Slide to Unlock" was essentially "look at a useful feature that was previously not patented and patent it" more than a deep analysis/research investment in human-computer-interface. I see preventing it being used by others is like patenting a push button and saying it cannot be used.

3) There is Often almost no innovation in much of the stuff that is patented (many patents occur because of the bonuses offered or assertion by employers more than for innovation).

4) Despite the noted end of phone wars there will be yet another arena where patent lawyers can endulge their wordsmithing and presentation of content-free text. Let's limit the tools that make the cost of a product rise because of the need for deadwood employees who have to create work via ambulance - I mean patent chasing.

Property rights and jobs in America are now hanging from a frayed thread. Some in Congress and the White House continue to follow the lead of their multinational campaign donors like lambs...pulling America along to the slaughter.

All this patent troll and 'reform' talk is mere dissembling by China, huge multinational thieves and their paid puppets.

They have already damaged the American patent system so that property rights are teetering on lawlessness. Simply put, their intent is to legalize theft -to twist and weaken the patent system so it can only be used by them and no one else. Then they can steal at will and destroy their small competitors AND WITH THEM THE JOBS THEY WOULD HAVE CREATED. Meanwhile, the huge multinationals ship more and more American jobs to China and elsewhere overseas.

Do you know how to make a Stradivarius violin? Neither does anyone else. Why? There was no protection for creations in his day so he like everyone else protected their creations by keeping them secret. Civilization has lost countless creations and discoveries over the ages for the same reason. Think we should get rid of or weaken patent rights? Think again.

Most important for America is what the patent system does for America's economy. Our founders: Jefferson, Franklin, Madison and others felt so strongly about the rights of inventors that they included inventors rights to their creations and discoveries in the Constitution. They understood the trade off. Inventors are given a limited monopoly and in turn society gets the benefits of their inventions (telephone, computer, airplane, automobile, lighting, etc) into perpetuity AND THE JOBS the commercialization of those inventions bring. For 200 years the patent system has not only fueled the American economy, but the world's. If we weaken the patent system, we force inventors underground like Stradivarius and in turn weaken our economy and job creation. For a robust economy America depends on a strong patent system accessible to all -large and small, not the watered down weak system the large multinationals and China are foisting on America.

For the truth, please see http://www.truereform.piausa.org/http://piausa.wordpress.com/ http://www.ipwatchdog.com/2014/04/18/for-whom-the-bell-tolls-the-us-patent-system/id=49067/http://www.hoover.org/publications/defining-ideas/article/142741

I find your post enlightening. Yet, I do not consider it compelling toward what I think is your end goal... non-reformation of the broken patent system.

Any system that allows for patenting "Slide to Unlock" is inherently broken.

Any system that allows for patenting obvious/self evident methods/processes/principals is broken.

Any system that supports enforcing patents that are not planned within a product to be shipped within 3 years by its owner or a licensee is broken (this often is an indication of a patent that BARS innovation rather than propogates/supports it).

Any system that supports enforcing disallowing personal use of privately owned products in whatever method one chooses (aka installing Windows on a Macbook or installing OSX onto a standard PC) is broken.

If a patent was the result of research/development investment (not looking at an obsolete product and patenting something that was not previously patented as is often the case) and it is not being used/licensed for ship within ~3 years then it is obstuctive rather than constucive so it should be usable so others can build upon/with it.

If there was a real investment (technical not legal) into research and development then there is justification for ensuring that the patent owner has the ability to recoup or profit from the investment.

Legal investment is often the result of validation or pursuit of enforcement of the technical (real patent subject). So, it is equated to Cost of Patenting - not the patent itself and this cost should be capped or excluded from the term "real investment" in the above paragraph.

Simply put: Patents should NOT be used to prevent innovations that can build upon the foundation of the patent unless it is applied in the near future. Patents should not prevent the owner of a product from using it in a manner other than the "manufacturers prescribed use case" (e.g.: installing Android on an ipad because I like the hardware but the software prevents me from being productive - or so I can innovate therefrom).

(Please note: I use 3 years as an example - I have no strong justification for it not being less or even a Small duration more). I do have strong justification for it being within the range of less than 5 years as the "life span" of a patentable innovative trait is generally 3 years. After that 3 years then costs of development and often profit can generally be derived. Then, innovation founded on the trait can begin rather than the waiting 15 or 20 years because the patent owner decides it is useful to PREVENT innovation by competitors which may require more investment/innovation on his part to remain competitive.

If you are in the thinking business, chances are that your job is created to fend off people that may out invent your boss. In the case of "trolls" their patents are usually written by people who out invented the rest. Otherwise, their patent would be as useless as that of yours and cannot stand up in court.

Engineers should try to come up with better ideas earlier, instead of complaining about your creativity being blocked by others. They were there first, sorry dude, shut up and move on.